Disclaimer: AgentLadybug does not own any part of the Naruto franchise or Vantablack.
The photoelectric effect—an electromagnetic phenomenon in which a photoelectron is ejected when an atom absorbs an incident photon. The vacancy left by the photoelectron is filled by an outer shell electron, which emits a characteristic photon as it drops to the inner shell. The photoelectron continues travelling through the material, interacting with other atoms. A simple, straightforward concept. Humans, on the other hand, could never be so simple, could never be so straightforward. So, what happens when the concept of the photoelectric effect is applied to humans? When a seed of thought is nurtured by a syndicate? And when its members begin weaving through the masses under the pretense of a game, whispering beguiling words of hope, of promises, of desires? Something once so predictable becomes unpredictable—or, does the unpredictable become predictable? Or, perhaps, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle comes into play? The more you think you know, the less you truly understand.
Chapter 1
- Photons -
"We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness."
— George Orwell, 1984
The room was dark, so very dark. Vantablack, he recalled. He scanned the room as each attendee nominated an individual; though, he was essentially staring into a void, an endless nothingness—or could it be that the void ended just in front of him? After all, he was viewing this through a headset. Fluorescent letters materialized in the center of the room. Names. Oh. His.
"It is decided then. These will be the participants in the next game. Thank you for joining the conference today. May we meet again in the place where there is no darkness." As the distorted voice faded, the room quickly sounded with numerous chimes, indicating that attendees were signing off. He pulled off his headset, placing it on the mount above his desk. Well, this was certainly unexpected. He had been attending these teleconferences for a few years now, but he had never thought that this would happen. Could happen, yes. But would? Never. Though, he supposed, this was hardly the first occurrence. Indeed, it was common for gamemasters to be nominated. They were, after all, anonymous.
This year, it was going to be interesting. Different. This year, he was a Player. He switched off the light before laying on his bed. He looked around the room. It was dark.
But not quite vantablack.
He closed his eyes.
8 AM. Why did he have an 8 AM lecture? Or, rather, why did he schedule 8 AM lectures every term? He didn't even like this course. And, honestly, it was way too early to be thinking about photons and the quantization of energy.
No. This couldn't continue. Next year, he resolved, there would be no morning classes. Next year, it was going to be different. But, until then, he had 14 more weeks of this torture—excluding this week.
He glanced at his phone. There was still 15 minutes before lecture began. Plenty of time for a quick nap. He folded his arms on his desk before settling his head in his makeshift pillow. The low murmurs of his classmates—drowsy as well, no doubt—and the chirps of songbirds outside the window tapered off as he gently drifted into a peaceful doze.
"GUESS. WHAT."
Or not.
"Hey! Guess what I got in the mail today?"
Maybe, just maybe, it would go away if he didn't move.
"Sasuke, I know you're awake. So, get up, and listen to me!"
He didn't move.
"Well, okay fine. Whatever. Anyway, I finally got it!"
What was he talking about?
"What is it, you may ask? Well, it is the thing I've been waiting for since September! It is one of the most coveted things around right now. It is…a beta invitation for Annihilation!"
Oh. That.
He recounted the events from this morning. A rather conspicuous package with an equally conspicuous letter had been placed on the front porch—did couriers even deliver this early? The parcel itself was peculiar. Initially, he hadn't even recognized it as a package. Indeed, when he first stepped outside—still bleary from a fitful sleep—he had wondered who installed a black hole on his doorstep. After inching towards the hole and reaching out to touch it, he felt edges. With both hands, he began feeling the corners and faces of the object. From what he could tell, it was perfectly cubic and perfectly sleek. While unusual, he wasn't going to fuss about that. Maybe whatever company had packaged this thought it amusing to fit a perfect sphere into a perfect cube. But, the color. Or, lack of it. That was unnerving, unnatural even. In all his encounters with black—and he had quite a few of those—black still reflected some light. This, on the other hand, was like staring into a void. Vantablack. The word drifted into his mind unbidden. There was no light in the volume of space that this package occupied. And, unless he was mistaken, there was definitely an abundance of sunlight at the moment. Bright, warm, obnoxious. It was too early for the sun.
He shifted his head slightly, eyeing his friend and his flaxen hair. Too early for this.
"What? Jealous? Well, the participants are supposed to bring along a partner. So, since I am your best friend, I will allow you to be my—"
"I have one too."
He could almost picture the moron's expression. Bug-eyed, mouth agape, nostrils flared, one hand still on his chest in mid-gesticulation. Though, there would be times when he interrupted like this just to see what would happen. So, there was a possibility that Naruto wouldn't believe him.
"I don't believe you."
Like now.
"Since when did you play games? You've been telling me since we were kids that I need to focus on my classes as much as I do my games, or I'd fail out and end up with nothing but my consoles and discs and that I'd have to sell them all just to afford a living, but I'd eventually run out of money because I ran out of things to sell, and then I'd starve and die alone without even games to keep me company."
Technically, he only told the idiot to focus, but it was good that Naruto had taken the time to carefully evaluate the consequences of his actions.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you except that I can't be your partner."
"So, that's what it was. You just don't want to pair up with me. Well, fine! All you had to do was tell me that you didn't want to play because you're afraid that your grades will drop, you nerd."
It was times like these that he questioned the logicality of their friendship. Though, all the outlandish and absurd expressions that spewed from Naruto's mouth usually made tolerating him worth the aggravation in the end. Usually. Right now, however, it was too early for this. He noticed someone entering the room.
"Hey, Sakura, want to be partners?"
Cue the irritant.
"What? No fair! I was going to ask her! Don't listen to him! Sakura, let's be partners!"
"And, good morning to you too. What are you even talking about? Do we have a project or something?"
"Oh, right! It's an exclusive beta invitation for some kind of hide and seek game called Annihilation."
"Annihilation? For hide and seek? That's a bit of a misnomer, isn't it?"
"Details, details." He waved the issue away, "I'm not going to stress about a poor name if the content is good. I'm a man of substance. So, partners?"
"Uh-huh. Well, sorry to disappoint the man of substance, but I'll be pairing up with Sasuke."
"What? Why? He doesn't even like games! I'll treat you well, I promise!"
"Aside from the fact that he's hotter than you? He asked first. But, seriously, why are you playing?" She looked at Sasuke.
He thought back again to the events following the discovery of the package. His older brother had been ecstatic, immediately grasping for it. His hopes came crashing down, however, when he noticed the addressee on the envelope. Sasuke Uchiha. Undaunted, he immediately demanded partnership, declaring that he, who had registered the siblings for invitations, deserved the opportunity to participate. It was this assertiveness that gave the younger of the two the vindictive glee of refusing, of watching his brother's poised, but hopeful, expression turn crestfallen. In all honesty, his sole intention was to taunt Itachi for the day before agreeing to collaborate, to dangle the invitation and watch him lose composure only to realize that was the aim all along. After all, younger siblings rarely had the opportunity to mock the older ones. But, plans rarely played out as expected. He blamed Naruto.
"My brother signed us both up, but only I received an invitation. I'm doing this because he can't."
"Wow, you're obnoxious."
"I don't want to hear that from you, Naruto."
As the rest of the students filtered in, the projector screen at the front of the room lit up. Sasuke pulled out his notebook and pen while his friends settled in their seats. He read the title of the presentation—Photon Interactions.
"Wait, so who's going to partner with me?"
It was still too early.
A/N: I'm a symbolism fanatic. That, and I needed an outlet for all this physics. Put those two together, and you get a psychological thriller with plenty of allusions to dystopian novels. Also, before anyone asks, the pairings (if any) are undecided.
And, I'm terrible with names and original characters. So, if you have ideas, please let me know. They won't have any integral part of the story though, so no worries there!